Marguerite Sugar Cheer
Argyranthemum frutescens "Sugar Cheer"

Sugar Cheer's flower colour will impress. Tight flower buds are initially coloured an intense cerise-pink, an eye-stopping colour. They open and remain a dark pink for quite some time until fading through mid-pink to softer tones.

It flowers freely from early in spring, July in warmer areas, with new flowers a deep pink and fading to softer tones with age, flushing several times through the flowering season. Foliage in rich lighter green hues provides a good contrast with the flowers.

Add the usual Federation Daisy features: basal branching, self-cleaning, long flower season, early flowering and improved garden performance, and this will prove to be a popular garden plant for years to come.

The bush is compact; initially growing in an upright fashion and then spreading to form a rounded mound around 50cm tall and 75cm wide. The foliage is a rich green with fine leaves. The latter is a one of the keys to "long-lived" red-flowered daisies. Genetically many of the red forms in the past are associated with quite coarse and open foliage, a form very susceptible to disease. The challenge for the breeders has been to transfer the very desirable flower colour onto a foliage form that is robust to meet the expectations of gardeners.

Features

• Brilliant cerise red flowers from early in spring.
• Flowers for months on end.
• Compact rounded bush to around 50-60cm.
• A low maintenance perennial, Just an occasional clip and feed .
• Sugar Cheer was awarded a prestigious Star of Spring 2000.

Using Sugar Cheer

• Sugar Cheer's extremely versatile, at home in both gardens and on patios.
• Daisies make a wonderfully bold display when used en masse.
• Very effective as a low-growing "hedge" along side a garden path or border.

Growing Sugar Cheer

• Grow in full sun.
• Plant in a well-drained soil, but don't let it dry out over summer - the first tell tale sign of too little water being a yellowing of the foliage in the middle of the bush.
• While tolerant of light frosts for short periods, it's best to provide shelter from harsh frost.
• Needs little by way of maintenance; a feed at the beginning of spring and the occasional clip to tidy, maintain vigour and encourage further flowering.